Shanghai: Thailand’s latest golf sensation Pariya Junhasavasdikul has set his sights on continuing his fairy-tale run on the Asian Tour with another awe-inspiring performance at this week’s WGC-HSBC Champions which starts on Thursday.

A licensed pilot, the Thai has seen his stocks soar since winning his maiden Asian Tour title at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters last month.

He has played his way into the major events on the Asian Tour and also got a taste of playing alongside several of the world’s leading stars, sharing even the halfway lead in Malaysia last week.

The 26-year-old is now relishing another opportunity to pit himself against the best players in the world at the Sheshan International Golf Club this week.

“I’m really very excited to be given the chance to play. I just have to look back at the start of the year and see how much I’ve progressed. I started the year playing most events on country exemption and then came my win in Taipei,” said Pariya who also enjoyed four top-10s prior to his career breakthrough in Chinese Taipei.

“Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t have the chance to grasp what was going on. It has been a life-changing experience and for this week, I’ll try to copy what the other big boys do on this course, their course management and learn from them,” added the business management graduate from Purdue University.

While it will be a learning process for Pariya, the Thai also believes that good ball striking will be decisive if he wants to contend for the lucrative US$1.2million winner’s purse as well as a place in the annals of golf history.

“The distance between the holes is extremely long and I can only think of a couple of holes that can be reached on the par-fives. You have to gamble a little bit. There’s a big advantage for the long hitters on this golf course and it’s also going to come down to good ball striking,” said Pariya.

Billed as the ‘champions of champions’ title, the WGC-HSBC Champions will see tournament winners from all around the world representing 20 countries who have won over 500 international titles between them and 30 Major Championships.

The Shanghai showpiece will feature defending champion Phil Mickelson of the United States, newly-crowned world number one Lee Westwood of England and American Tiger Woods amongst the stellar line-up in this week’s elite field.